When Mr. Wonderful got me my first trail cam for my birthday, I was ecstatic! As the baby of the family, I’m always scared I’m going to miss something, and since shooting my first deer a few years ago, I am hooked on hunting. It was perfect.

One of the first things I learned about shooting with trail cams is that it requires patience, my least-favorite virtue. In order to get any good shots of wildlife, you have to set them and then leave them alone. For days, sometimes! However, with the whole Stupid Rheumatoid Arthritis thing, sitting in the woods waiting for things to wander by isn’t an option.

Another thing it requires is stubbornness, aka sisu. Why? Because 90% of the trail cam photos I get are crap. Even with the infrared sensor that is supposed to only trigger the shutter if something with a pulse comes by , I get lots of duds.

I am SO sick of this view of the pit. I had a camera set up for a week and got nothing.

Trail cams are a good way to catch thieves, also. We put one on the guinea nest and guess what we found?

An egg-sucking dog. Literally. GUS!!

Look at that fuzzy butt!

And he totally annihilates any possible defense of “plausible deniability” with this uber-guilty shot of him licking his lips.

Turd!

My sister had this hidey-hole on her property that she’d always wondered about.

Now we know a snowshoe hare lives there. Toews knew it was a bunny, but he can’t speak Human very well.

I get lots of shots of my nutjob neighbor/sister and her friend Jill and her spawn. Usually I remember to tell them where the cameras are so I don’t get any embarrassing pics of them peeing in woods. My brother-in-law threatened to moon the cameras once. I told him, “Go ahead; you have a Facebook page now.” 😀

Like this:

Stanley is our barn cat. He came to the farm the winter of 2012 – his name was “Kitty” but my friend’s daughter thought he should have a better name. When asked what a better name might be, she said, “I don’t know…like Stanley or something”. Good enough for me.

Stanley isn’t considered an “exhibit animal” but he is a cat, and wanders wherever he pleases. He may or may not stroll through and say “hi” while you’re here.

I was worried that he wouldn’t want to stay here, but said I would give it a try. JaiJai had been an absolute brat to our other cats.

Cats are NOT squeaky toys!!

As it turns out, Stanley is the perfect barn cat for the farm. He doesn’t run from the Ginormous White Slobbering Dog…or any of the other dogs for that matter.

Like this:

Sophie is the newest (and LAST) dog to come to the farm (at least for a long long time). She is another Great Pyrenees. Because logic says, if you have one that doesn’t work for it’s intended purpose, you should get another one. 🙂

Sophie is a working dog and as such won’t be an “exhibit animal” but since she lives here on the farm, she gets her 15 minutes of fame!

So here was the thought process:

JaiJai needs a partner. The corgis are too small and just not that much fun for him.

Hopefully this one will have some natural instinct. (Cuz it’s pretty darn obvious that he doesn’t.)

If nothing else, we have provided her with the farm environment she needed.

See – perfectly logical.

Look how happy that JaiJai is!!!

Thus far we haven’t been able to really test Sophie’s aptitude for the whole Livestock Guardian Thing yet – another visit to Dr Fisher at Vermilion Vet Clinic to take care of this no-risk-of-having-puppies business and we will be on a roll.

and as I have said before, you will spend more on grooming than you will spend on your next car.

Jai is a dog that someone decided they just had to have. And then sadly they decided that he was too big,

OR he was too loud, OR too strong,

OR too expensive to feed, OR too energetic, OR too destructive,

OR waay too much to groom OR some other such thing…. And so, they left him tied to a tree to die.

Thankfully he was rescued from a certain and unpleasant death. Jai will spend the rest of his days here on the farm. He will never be “without” again.

BEWARE: Here is where I jump up on my soapbox: If you are going to get a pet for your family research the species and the breed. Be honest…will you have the time, money, energy and space to share with this new member of your family for possibly the next 15 years or more? 8 MILLION dogs are killed in this country EVERY DAY. And frankly I just can’t adopt any more.

Hopping off soapbox now…..

PS: Take a ride up the driveway and see Jai’s favorite perch in this cool YouTube video.